Examples Of Loss And Transformation In Bone

Xinhao Zhou

Professor Julie Thi Underhill

Asian American Literature

13 Apr 2023

Loss and Transformation in “Bone”

As the protagonist of this novel, and the narrator of this novel, Leila, Leila is a Chinese American woman. She feels disconnected from her family's cultural traditions and is disturbed by her sister Oona's suicide. Leila tries to make herself feel better by forgetting her sister's suicide and tries to escape her past. But as the novel progresses, Leila realizes that she cannot make herself feel better simply by forgetting her sister's death and ignoring her family's secrets, but must face these facts head-on, even though it is a difficult and painful process. By the end of the story, Leila has learned more about herself and gained

In accompanying him to the Social Security Administration, she and the interviewer try to sort out the confusion caused by Leon's claimed alias and multiple birthdays over the years. It turned out that he had entered the United States illegally, using someone else's name and life history as a false identity. The Social Security Administration interviewer sent them home to find the proper documentation. What Leila found was a suitcase full of documents, neatly sorted by year and rubber-banded in chronological order - a history of denials, letters from when Maher shipped, photographs, newspaper clippings, receipts for money transfers to China, conflicting official documents, and finally the required proof of identity and entry. At the end of the chapter, she says, "I never forgot. I am the stepdaughter of a newspaper boy's son, and I inherited this whole box of lies. All of this is mine. All I have are these memories, and I want to remember them all." (242) For me, this was a brave way for Leila to confront her identity and the secrets of herself and her unearthed

Until then, of course, she lives on Salmon Lane and will eventually move back to help her parents. She realized that she could always go back to her apartment. However, she had many reasons to leave. It seemed to me that Leila was lonely and tired inside. As the eldest daughter, she had to comfort her mother when Oona died. When Oona committed suicide, Ma shouted "my daughter, my daughter"(169), and although Leila was also sad at this time, Leila did not shed tears and just stood by to comfort her mother. She took it upon herself to tell the other family members and her sister that a man had committed suicide. So in my opinion, Leila had many reasons to want to move out of Chinatown, and many reasons not to move out of Chinatown. In Chinatown, she took on the role of caring for others, but at the same time she felt she was leaving a community that supported her. Mason's presence is like a light in Leila's life; Leila does not need to take care of him or worry about him like she does with others, and Mason takes Leila through a different life. Just as they did in chapter 4 "That night, I moved first. I kissed the hollow of Mason's throat and I licked his smooth earlobe. Mason followed suit, impatient. Just like that, moving with Mason, I felt safe. What do you want? What do you want? Our questions moved